Crying Devils
by Shadow the Hellspawn
Summary: A new mysterious case causes Murphy to call in Devil Hutner Dante, can he and Harry try and work together to figure out who's after Harry's life?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: As of right now this is a one-shot idea, I do not know if I will be continuing this or not. So please leave your feedback via reviews, it will decide if I will keep going with this or not.**

Friday night, 9:30 PM, November 22nd.

I was just closing up the office and getting ready to head home when the phone rang, I argued with myself if I wanted to answer it, I really didn't but picked it anyway.

"Hello?" I said.

"Harry," Murphy said on the other line, she sounded worried, "I know it's past closing time but this is important."

"How important?" I asked.

"It involves you," she said, "We're down at the pier, Warehouse 9. Be careful Dresden." Then she hung up. I stared at the dead receiver for a moment, thinking about her last warning. If I hadn't known Murphy as long as I have I wouldn't have noticed the slight tone of worry in her voice, and it's only the really heavy stuff that gets her worried.

I was careful as I locked up the office and took the stairs down to the parking lot. I paused as I left the building, searching for anyone, or anything, that might be lurking in the shadows. When I was sure there was nothing there I walked out to my car, the Blue Beetle, though not much of it was blue anymore. Being a wizard, my magic screws with most modern technology so usually I just don't use it, but I had to have a car, and my mechanic says that the VW Beetle is the easiest car to repair, so that's what I got. Over the years it's taken some damage, both front doors had to be replaced with parts from other Beetles, as well as the front hood.

I climbed into my car and put the key into the ignition and brought the car to life. The engine coughed a few times before stabilizing, I put it into gear and was on my way. The ride to the pier was silent, the radio almost never worked anyway.

When I arrived I pulled next to a very nice car, it was very retro in design and cherry red. Whoever it belonged to must've had a hell of an ego. I got out and pulled my blasting rod out of the backseat. As I approached I could tell something bad had happened, death, and a lot of it, was heavy in the air. I told the two cops keeping watch that Murphy had called me; they knew I was coming and let me in.

The instant I stepped into that building I wanted to vomit, there were at least twelve dead bodies here, all of them seemed to have been attacked by some animal, though most animals don't have claws this big. I saw Murphy talking to a guy with white hair and a long red coat with a guitar case on his back. _Looks like somebody's trying to steal my look_, I joked to myself as I approached.

"Murphy," I said as I approached, "Who's this guy?"

"His name's Dante," She explained, "He's kinda like you, private investigator, I happened to know someone who had hired him and she gave me the password."

"Password?" I asked.

"Kinda hard to get business when your ad says, 'Demon Hunter for Hire,'" Dante said, "besides, most straights refuse to believe that such things even exist, 'Private Investigator' is a little more public friendly."

"Strange," I said, "My ad just says 'Wizard,' and my business is just fine." I turned to Murphy, "So what made you call him anyway, especially when you've already got someone for stuff like this, namely me."

"I wasn't sure if I wanted to get you involved in this one," she said, "follow me." She led the two of us to a neat little corner of the warehouse, one covered in blood. One spot in particular had my name spelled out."

"What the fuck?" I said to myself.

"I'd say it's a calling card," Dante said.

"All of the victims here seem to have one thing in common," Murphy said, "they all hired you at some point."

I looked back to both of them, "What?" I said in disbelief.

"We ran background checks on all of them," Murphy said, "It's the only connection we could find, that and the fact that they took the time to spell out your name in blood, I'd say somebody's after you."

"I take it this is the first time you've pissed off a demon?" Dante asked.

"A demon?" I asked, "Demons can only be brought here by one of us summoning them, the only one I ever came across was a tool used by someone else."

"Then we have our own definitions on what a demon can do," Dante said, "In my business, demons come and go from our world to theirs as they please. While they can be summoned as you say, it is because the demon is to large and/or powerful to cross over on their own and needs assistance from this side. That being said, there's no proof as to wich kind we're dealing with."

_Smart ass_, I thought. "So when did this happen?" I asked Murphy.

"Late last night, around eleven-thirty, it seems that each victim was brought here from their homes to be killed here. We've scoured the area, and not a damn clue could be found, it's as if these people were suddenly shredded by nothing. I really hate to ask you this, because I know what it does to you, but I was hoping you could try your Sight to see what happened."

I thought about it for a second, the feeling I got from this place was bad enough, did I really want to have the images of what happened here burned into my memory forever? I guess I had to since I was a part of this now, if it could get me a clue of who I'm looking for or who's gunning for me.

I sighed and closed my eyes, pushing everything out of my mind and focused. Opening my eyes I activated my Sight, with it I could see everything as it truly was. The building had been transformed to a disgusting and hellish version of itself, the walls seemed organic and everything was stained with blood. The bodies screaming in pain as if they were being ripped to shreds over and over again. The residual energy was strong here, letting me see what had happened, each person had been brought here, from a portal, carried by a creature, horns, long claws, the works. Each one was left here until several of these creatures slaughtered them. I was just about to turn off my sight when Dante walked into my vision.

The hair was roughly the same, but his skin was pitch black, on his back was a long double-edged sword with a skeletal design, the long coat became scaley. This guy wasn't human, normally I'd feel a sense of malice from beings like him, but I didn't. I felt calmness, peace. He turned back to me, his face somewhat reptilian with sharp teeth and yellow eyes. "So," he said, "what do you see?"


	2. Chapter 2

My gaze lingered on Dante for a moment before turning to Murphy, "These people were brought here one by one before they were killed. These demons aren't like anything I've seen before. You can keep looking, but I doubt you'll find anything that can help you. I'm gonna head back to my place and see if I can't dig something up."

I said my goodbyes to Murphy and left the warehouse, I could tell Dante was watching me go. I went out to my car and waited for Dante to come out to what I knew was his car; I didn't think Murph knew what Dante really was. That being said, I don't think I did either. He didn't seem like a fey, was he a demon? If so, who summoned him? And why would a demon need a car? And why did he show me he True Form like that? That's why he stepped into my Vision; he wanted me to see it.

I didn't have to wait long as Dante left the warehouse a few minutes after I did. "I figured you'd be waiting out here for me," he said with a cocky smile.

"What are you really?" I said, getting right down to business, "You knew I could see your True Form, why did you show me."

"Tell you what," Dante said, "Show me to a good pizza place and I'll answer whatever questions you want."

Pizza? Fey are quite fond of it. Then again, they weren't the only ones; it wasn't enough to pin down who this guy was. The question was, could I trust him? So far, he hasn't done anything that would cause suspicion, but then again, the best ones didn't.

Dante apparently sensed my distrust as he took the guitar case from his back and tossed it into the backseat of his car, along with a pair of handguns from two underarm holsters that I didn't even notice. "Can we go now?" He asked, "I'm starving."

l***l

I figured McAnally's Pub, was a good place to take him since it was neutral ground, even demons had to respect that, I hoped. Mac was behind the bar, cleaning a glass with a rag as we came in. He looked over to us and went back to his work.

"Order whatever you want," I said as I sat down at one of the thirteen tables.

"One large pizza," Dante said to Mac, "Everything but olives."

Mac nodded and went into the kitchen, Dante came over and sat across from me.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Just like you," Dante replied, "I'm on a case. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Why?" I asked.

"I was hired, I'm getting paied," Dante said, "If you continue to not trust me, there's always one thing you can do."

He was of course talking about the Soulgaze, and he was right. I don't think there was anything he could say that would make me trust him.

I looked up and locked eyes with him, I instantly found myself in a field of white flowers, the wind was blowing softly, I looked around and saw nothing, the 'sky' above me was black with a single light from above illuminating the area around me. I began to hear the soft cries of a child sobbing. He followed the sound, as I moved the flowers I disturbed with my steps turned a blood red. I soon found a small clearing where a small boy, maybe eight years old, with white hair clung to the dead body of his mother as he cried out for her. I couldn't help but feel a little sympathy, I knew what that felt like.

Time suddenly seemed to move in fast forward as I watched the boy grow up into a punk teenager, then into something that was a little closer to the Dante I met. The image froze as Dante was locked in combat with someone else, the other guy looked a lot like Dante, but at the same time was the exact opposite. Blue coat, slicked back hair, katana instead of a large double edged sword. The image shifted and a slightly older Dante stood over the body of a Knight in armor, his helm missing, showing the face of his twin. The image changed again showing the current Dante walking away from a young man with white hair, a long, blue, denim coat and a demonic right arm. In the hand of that arm was the same katana that Dante's twin wielded. The look on Dante's face showed that he was content with this change.

The image faded and I was returned to McAnally's, I realized that whatever Dante was, the enemy he wasn't. I didn't feel like he would stab me in the back, (both literally and figuratively), so I decided I could trust him.

Dante smiled, "We're not so different, you and I," he said, no doubt a reaction to whatever he saw in my soul. "Satisfied?"

"Yeah," I said, as Mac came and set down Dante's pizza on the table, Dante pulled out a wallet and paied Mac before turning to me.

"I'm sure you still have more questions," He said as he took a slice of the pizza and bit into it.

"I guess I should go back to my first question," I said, "What are you?"

"A demon," he replied, "more specifically, a half demon. My father, Sparda, rebelled against his own kind and fought them off to protect humankind. Though he was killed not too long after my brother and I were born. Though, I'm not sure how much you saw in there…

"I saw enough," I said, it sounded like he didn't like talking about it. "So what was that form I Saw you in earlier?"

"I call it a Devil Trigger," Dante answered, "while I am a half demon, my demon form is difficult to sustain for extended periods of time, I only ever use it in combat situations where it's really needed."

"And what about that other kind of demon you talked about earlier, the ones that can jump from their world to this one, It seemed like it was them that did this," I described the demons I saw to him.

"Sounds like they're from Berial's domain," Dante said, "In the demon word there are many demon lords who carve out their own domains to rule over, kinda like kings and kingdoms. Berial was one of them, the problem is that he's dead, I should know, I killed him myself."

"Is it possible that, someone took this Berial guy's place?" I asked.

"Yeah," Dante said, "but it doesn't make sense if they're coming after you."

"I have quite the reputation," I said, "what if someone put them up to it?"

"Another possibility," Dante said, "Any recent enemies?"

"I kinda started a war," I said, "Between the Vampires and the White Council."

"Oh, that was you?" Dante asked, "I've been getting a lot of cases because of that."

"Sorry," I said.

"Don't," Dante said, "Business is booming, I've actually got majority of me debts paied off thanks to you."

We were getting off topic, "So can we find anything out about who's doing what in the demon world?" I asked.

"There are plenty of lesser demons roaming this world," Dante explained, "usually doing lackey work for their masters, we could interrogate one of them, and they're usually pretty cowardly so it shouldn't be hard. Or we could go around, knocking around a few vampire heads to see who talks."

"Unfortunatly there aren't any vampires in Chicago anymore," I said, "At least as far as I know, I kinda killed them all when I burned down the house of their leader, wich started the war. If there was a Vampire in town, they would've already tried to kill me."

"Maybe they are," Dante said.


	3. Chapter 3

The two of us left Mac's and got back into my car, "So, where to?" I asked.

"Let's see," Dante thought for a second, "in a city like this, it shouldn't be hard to find a demon. They're usually around anything illegal, or the government."

"Demons have their claws in the government too?" I asked.

"Not entirely," Dante said, "it's not uncommon for government people to make deals with devils for more power. Not all of them do it, but enough of them do to make it a fairly common practice."

"I'm pretty sure it's a little to late to be knocking on the mayor's door right now," I said.

"Aside from Mac's, are there any other bars where supernaturals hang out?" Dante asked, "there's usually at least one in places like that."

I was about to speak when something dark darted out in front of my car, causing me to slam on the breaks. The creature dashed off just as quckly as it had appearead, and not far behind it was a man in full armor, chasing it down.

"You have got to be kidding me," I said as I put my car in park.

"Who was that?" Dante asked.

"The Fist of God," I told him as I got out of my car and followed him, Dante right behind me.

We quickly caught up to Michael, who seemed to have the thing cornered. The creature was all black, save for a bit of red on the tip of its horns. Its face was rounded with bright yellow eyes.

"Evening, Michael," I said as we approached, "what is it you have here?"

"A demon," he said as he drew his sword. Dante placed a hand on Micheal's shoulder.

"I'll handle this one," he said as he stepped up to it, the demon growled at him.

"Son of Sparda," it hissed, " betrayer's blood."

Dante grabbed it by the neck and slammed it against the alley wall, "You guys should come up with some new names," he said, "those are beginning to wear out."

"I didn't know you kept this kind of company," Micheal said to me as Dante went to work.

"He's not as bad as he seems," I told him.

"I've already made that assumption," Micheal said, "I've seen many beasts in my day, but he is not among them, strange."

"Do I even want to ask how you just happened to be chasing down a demon, right in front of my car no less, just as we were looking for one?" I asked.

"I beleive you already know the answer to that," Micheal told me. I'm pretty sure that was the closest thing to a smart assed remark that I've ever heard Micheal say.

"I think you know why we're here," Dante continued, "there's a warehouse full of dead people down by the harbor and we need to know who did it."

The demon choked, "I know nothing!" it said, "I swear it!"

"Well, if you're so sure I can just give you back to Sir Micheal here and we'll be on our way. I'm sure whatever he has in store for you is at least twice as wors as anything I could do," Dante said as he dropped the demon and turned away from it for a second.

"Wait!" the demon responded, "I'll tell you anything! Just don't let him get to me!"

"That's better," Dante said, turning back to it, "now talk. We know the deaths in the warehouse was a warning," he pointed to me over his shoulder, "specifically to this guy, I want to know who and why."

"Dresden," the demon said, hearing it say my name made my skin crawl a little, "has many enemies. When Berial was killed, there was a war for his throne, Adramelech currently holds it."

"And this is the guy behind it?" Dante asked.

"He commanded that it be done," the demon said, "but for what reason I do not know, I swear it."

"Tell me someone who does know," Dante commanded.

"You will have to ask him yourself," the demon said. Micheal began to look uneasy, I could see why. All around us, dark figures had suddenly gathered. Bizzare creatures of different shapes and sizes. Dante saw them too.

"Well," he said, "looks like we won't have to wait very long."


	4. Chapter 4

Dante looked around at the mass of demons that had surrounded us, it was then that I remembered that Dante had dissarmed himself earlier to earn my trust. At the same time I remembered that I had left my staff and my blasting rood in my car in all of the commotion. I cursed my foolishness but Dante didn't seem phased. With a flash of demonic energy he was wearing something on his back, like a skeletal praying mantis. I assumed it was some sort of weapon, my question was that how did he hide that on his body without anyone noticing.

Dante looked over his shoulder at me and I noticed that he had a rose in his mouth, but before I could question it he tossed something my way. The instant I touched whatever it was there was a quick flash of light and I found myself wearing a strange set of gauntlets and boots, I could feel someting on my back and there was a mask covering the lower part of my face. While I could've attempted to keep controll of my own magic, I'm not very good at delecate jobs, and considering our close quarters, I probably would've ended up blowing all of us up. They didn't give me a chance to get a feel for this weapon as they all attacked and I relied on my basic instincts. Dodging under one demon I drove a hard punch to its face, as I did a drill of some sort extended from the gauntlet, driving into the demon's skull. I dodged a second attack, bringing my heel up, the spurs on the boot spun like a buzzsaw as I cut right through the demon's neck. I like to think I'm in pretty decent shape, but I've never been this limber, something about this weapon made me feel lighter, agile as I dodged and attacked like some sort of kung-fu master. It felt good. As I fought, I caught glances of Dante as he had his own problems to deal with, somehow he kept summoning glowing red swords, swords he would impale demons with then somehow cause the swords to explode. The way he moved seemed like some sort of interperative dance, just looking at him I could imagine some Spanish sounding music in the background. Micheal seemed to be taking care of himself well, his sword cutting through demons like a hot knife through butter. As I roundhouse kicked the skull of another demon in, I saw that they were all swarming the alley, mobing to get in at us. I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep this up forever so I called out to the other two.

"Duck!" I shouted, Dante and Micheal didn't need to be told twice as they both hit the ground as I outstreached my right hand, quickly pulling huge ammounts of magical energy from my ring. "_PyroFuego!_" I called out, from my palm, maybe magnified by the demonic gauntlet, came a huge burst of flame that filled the alleyway, burning the demons to less than ash.

Dante laughed, "I may have to learn that one," he said.

"Though we still don't have any answers," I said, my statement was intterupted by clapping. We turned to the mouth of the alley way to see someone standing there, he seemed young, maybe nineteen. His hair was black with touches of red, he wore a dark green jacket and a scarf with simple jeans and a t-shirt.

"Not bad," he said, "I should'nt have underestimated Harry Dresden, especially when he is teamed with the great devil hunter, Dante, and a knight of the cross.

"And you would be?" I asked, getting irritated with this kid's attitude.

"My apologies," he said, taking a bow, "Adramelech, at your service."

"Then what's your deal? I've never heard of you, nor have I done anything to warrent your attention, as far as I know," I said.

"You have powrful enemies, Mister Dresden," Adramelech said, "and I have powerful friends. What a coincedence that they are one and the same, I've been asked to join in this little war you've started. And the red court wants you out of the way, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone if I arranged you to meet Mister Dante here and rid my kind of a pest as well."

"So, what now?" Dante asked, "Kill us in this back alley, seems kinda anti-climactic if you ask me. At least have the decency to bring us to some castle or something with a better scheme than this."

Adramelech smiled, "I agree with you, wich is why we are going to play a game. Find me." And with that he just faded out of sight.

"Great," I said, "we have some punk kid as our villain."

"Don't let his appearances fool you," Micheal said, "Demons when in human form take whatever form they please."

"That being said, for a demon he's definatly young," Dante said, "if he was an older, more mature demon he wouldn't have exposed himself to us just now. But if he managed to fight his way to take Berial's throne, then he's got to be pretty powerful." Dante walked over to me and touched the thing on my back, taking back the gauntlet set, his own weapon dissapearing. The instant he did so, the reprecussions of all of that vigerous activity began to rear their heads. All of my joints began to ache, Dante seemed to notice and chuckled a little but said nothing.

"So what now?" I asked.

"We find him," Dante said as he walked out of the alley and toward the nearest payphone. Micheal and I joined him as Dante dropped a few coins into the phone and dialed a number.

Dante waited as the phone rang until someone picked up, I couldn't make out what was said on the other line but from where I was standing it sounded like a woman.

"It's me, Dante," Dante said, "Ah, no I'm calling about a demon, hoping you've heard of him... Adramelech... I'm in Chicago, working with some of the local talent... yeah, him... No... at least not yet anyway... I'll have to look, gather some more intel but you've given me a start... thanks." He then hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" I asked, whoever it was, they knew me.

Dante smirked and mearly replied, "A witch, you don't know her, but she's heard of you."

I wasn't sure how I felt about that but I'd have to deal with it later, "So what did she say?"

"Adramelech is a young upstart, one of the sons of Satan, trying to make a name for himself," Dante said.

"Sons?" Micheal asked, "The devil is supposed to have only one son, the antichrist, herald of armageddon."

"All of Satan's current sons are illegitimate, and most are unknown outside of the demonic circles. Satan needs a wife to birth the antichrist, but not just any wife, one that marries him out of true love. But that's neither here nor there, Adremelech likes night clubs from what my friend tells me. Places for him to corrupt young souls. Though, in Chicago we could search clubs all night and get nowhere."

"I may know a way we could speed that up," I said, "but we'd have to go back to my apartment."

"As long as we can stop and get my car," Dante said.


End file.
